Living In The South & Weight Loss

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ariesldsgal
ariesldsgal Posts: 73 Member
in Motivation and Support
Living in TX is fabulous. However when it comes to weight loss it is difficult to live in the south. Many of the locals don't understand my desire to be healthy and lose weight, they say I'm tiny. "You can eat that, you're tiny!" Or, "you don't need to worry about getting skinnier!" Nevermind the fact I am two pounds over my healthy BMI, and have about 25 extra pounds since giving birth to five children. It can be discouraging to lose weight when others are encouraging you to eat more.

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  • aperrillioux
    aperrillioux Posts: 115 Member
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    It is definitely harder to lose weight when people are telling you that you don't have to anymore. As much as I love my mom, she's a total enabler. I was fighting with myself about whether or not I should get a Drumstick from the gas station, like...mental war level here, and she says, let me see your stomach, turn sideways. Nods her head and says, "Oh yeah, you go get your ice cream. You can definitely have it." And I know that I'm doing well, but I'm still not at my goal and the fact is that her saying it makes me think it for the next two weeks. "Oh, I lost three pounds last week. I can totally have ice cream today. And tomorrow. And two on wednesday. And a whole box of girl scout cookies. Pshh. I know how to get back on the wagon. I'm doing great."

    I hate that.

    And also I'm in Georgia. And raised in New Orleans. Ohmygod. Can you say King Cake. February was hell for me in Louisiana. This was my first year where there wasn't *real* king cake to tempt me. It's definitely a culture that caters to delicious food without worrying about the cost.
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,153 Member
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    I hear that. I can't count how many times I've been asked "when are you going to start eating like a normal person again?" Never mind the fact that most of the people around me are moderately to severely overweight, or the fact that eating like "a normal person" is what got me fat in the first place. The food in the South is terrible. Even if you're trying to be careful, so much of it is fried or greased up, and all of it comes with carbs and a side of carbs. Being vegetarian helps a little, if only because there are so many unhealthy places that I simply can't eat at because they don't have anything without meat.
  • mountaingirl2207
    mountaingirl2207 Posts: 181
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    I moved to Florida from Colorado which I think is considered the 'fittest' state. I can't get used to how people just seem like they don't care down here... especially since there are pools and beaches everywhere. I have found a great community of fit people after some looking....sometimes you just have to try to surround yourself with the kind of people you want to be like.
  • Robot1976
    Robot1976 Posts: 15 Member
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    A few years ago, I took a work trip to Atlanta. The first few days of BBQ and Coke and pie were AMAZING. By the third day of restaurant meals, I needed to eat at least one vegetable. I ordered a sandwich and asked if instead of french fries, I could have a salad. "No problem, Darlin'". When my sandwich arrived, the salad was a mayo-laden pasta salad. And for that trip, I convinced myself that in America, pasta counted as a vegetable. God bless the U.S.A.

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